Facility Location Problems are concerned with the optimal location of one or several new facilities, with respect to a set of existing ones. The objectives involve the distance between new and existing facilities, usually a weighted sum or weighted maximum. Since the various stakeholders (decision makers) will have different opinions of the importance of the existing facilities, a multicriteria problem with several sets of weights, and thus several objectives, arises. In our approach, we assume the decision makers to make only fuzzy comparisons of the different existing facilities. A geometric mean method is used to obtain the fuzzy weights for each facility and each decision maker. The resulting multicriteria facility location problem is solved using fuzzy techniques again. We prove that the final compromise solution is weakly Pareto optimal and Pareto optimal, if it is unique, or under certain assumptions on the estimates of the Nadir point. A numerical example is considered to illustrate the methodology.

The notion of the balance number introduced in [3,page 139] through a certain set contraction procedure for nonscalarized multiobjective global optimization is represented via a min-max operation on the data of the problem. This representation yields a different computational procedure for the calculation of the balance number and allows us to generalize the approach for problems with countably many performance criteria.

The paper is devoted to the investigation of directional derivatives and the cone of decrease directions for convex operators on Banach spaces. We prove a condition for the existence of directional derivatives which does not assume regularity of the ordering cone K. This result is then used to prove that for continuous convex operators the cone of decrease directions can be represented in terms of the directional derivatices . Decrease directions are those for which the directional derivative lies in the negative interior of the ordering cone K. Finally, we show that the continuity of the convex operator can be replaced by its K-boundedness.

The computational complexity of combinatorial multiple objective programming problems is investigated. NP-completeness and #P-completeness results are presented. Using two definitions of approximability, general results are presented, which outline limits for approximation algorithms. The performance of the well known tree and Christofides' heuristics for the TSP is investigated in the multicriteria case with respect to the two definitions of approximability.

In order to improve the distribution system for the Nordic countries the BASF AG considered 13 alternative scenarios to the existing system. These involved the construction of warehouses at various locations. For every scenario the transportation, storage, and handling cost incurred was to be as low as possible, where restrictions on the delivery time were given. The scenarios were evaluated according to (minimal) total cost and weighted average delivery time. The results led to a restriction to only three cases, involving only one new warehouse each. For these a more accurate model for the cost was developped and evaluated, yielding results similar to a simple linear model. Since there were no clear preferences between cost and delivery time, the final decision was chosen to represent a compromise between the two criteria.

The topic of this paper are discrete decision problems with multiple criteria. We first define discrete multiple criteria decision problems and introduce a classification scheme for multiple criteria optimization problems. To do so we use multiople criteria optimization classes. The main result is a characterization of the class of lexicographic max-ordering problems by two very useful properties, reduction and regularity. Subsequently we discuss the assumptions under which the application of this specific MCO class is justified. Finally we provide (simple) solution methods to find optimal decisions in the case of discrete multiple criteria optimization problems.

In this paper relationships between Pareto points and saddle points in multiple objective programming are investigated. Convex and nonconvex problems are considered and the equivalence between Pareto points and saddle points is proved in both cases. The results are based on scalarizations of multiple objective programs and related linear and augmented Lagrangian functions. Partitions of the index sets of objectives and constranints are introduced to reduce the size of the problems. The relevance of the results in the context of decision making is also discussed.

Location problems with Q (in general conflicting) criteria are considered. After reviewing previous results of the authors dealing with lexicographic and Pareto location the main focus of the paper is on max-ordering locations. In these location problems the worst of the single objectives is minimized. After discussing some general results (including reductions to single criterion problems and the relation to lexicographic and Pareto locations) three solution techniques are introduced and exemplified using one location problem class, each: The direct approach, the decision space approach and the objective space approach. In the resulting solution algorithms emphasis is on the representation of the underlying geometric idea without fully exploring the computational complexity issue. A further specialization of max-ordering locations is obtained by introducing lexicographic max-ordering locations, which can be found efficiently. The paper is concluded by some ideas about future research topics related to max-ordering location problems.

In this paper we give the definition of a solution concept in multicriteria combinatorial optimization. We show how Pareto, max-ordering and lexicographically optimal solutions can be incorporated in this framework. Furthermore we state some properties of lexicographic max-ordering solutions, which combine features of these three kinds of optimal solutions. Two of these properties, which are desirable from a decision maker" s point of view, are satisfied if and only of the solution concept is that of lexicographic max-ordering.